West Ham won the 2022-'23 Conference League by beating Fiorentina 2-1 in the final played in Prague.
English went ahead in the 17th minute of the second half with Benrahma on a penalty, Bonaventura's momentary equaliser in the 22nd minute then, in the 45th minute, West Ham's winning goal was signed by Bowen.
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Conference League: Fiorentina-West Ham 1-2 PHOTOS - Football
(ANSA)
Fiorentina's European dream is shattered at the ninetieth. When extra time was in sight, Jarrod Bowen escaped the lily defensive line, found himself in front of Terracciano and presented West Ham with a European trophy that fans had been waiting for almost sixty years. Fiorentina lost its second final of the season and Italian football lost the second of its three European finals. The night in Prague turns into a big party for the London hammers, who arrived in the Czech Republic in tens of thousands, many of them without a ticket, to dream of living the moment that the camp then gave them. In a game that was in fact all condensed in the last half hour of play, Fiorentina made the usual great possession, but also built less than usual. West Ham first remained a bit on the sidelines like the English teams of yesteryear, and then took the lead with a penalty awarded on the quarter of an hour for a hand in the Biraghi area. That Fiorentina, however, had the strength to equalise a few minutes later thanks to a foray by Jack Bonaventura, perhaps the best viola on the field and not only for the goal. Until the ninetieth, when West Ham was able to break the stalemate with Bowen, who escaped Igor and relentlessly scored the most important goal of his career and one of the most important in the history of West Ham. Of the first sixty minutes of the game we could also not speak: throughout the first half and the first quarter of an hour of the second half Fiorentina has dribbled a lot, but without ever being really dangerous. West Ham played mainly by letting Fiorentina build castles in the air and trying to dig around the moat: but also in his case without ever really going close to scoring. So many mistakes, on both sides. Things to remember are the intervention of the doctors to medicate Biraghi hit in the head by an object thrown from the English corner while he was about to beat a corner kick and the goal canceled for offside to Jovic, at the end of the first half, who had collected and put on goal the retort on a header by Kouamé. Last act of the game of Jovic, replaced at the start of the second half by Cabral, with whom, on the eve, he had been in the runoff. The game ignited when the Spanish referee Del Cerro Grande, recalled by the VAR, judged not to regulate the touch of hands in the Biraghi area: from the puck, Benrahama led the Hammers. A slap in the face for Fiorentina: but perhaps the slap they needed. After just a few minutes Bonaventura, with an insertion of his found the equalizer served by Nico Gonzalez. At that point both teams tried to win it: West Ham with Antonio and the Prague Soucek who found Terracciano attentive, Fiorentina especially with the conclusions at the distance, of Mandragora and Amrabat. It could have closed it, extra time could have come and maybe it could have been played on penalties, but Bowen's flash was enough, a carelessness of a defense that did very little wrong to write the history of the youngest of European competitions that leaves Rome for London. Celebrate the captain Declan Rice who will leave for a big, celebrates Emerson Palmieri, the only player to have won all three European cups, celebrates, with a scrap of game to result acquired, also Angelo OgbonNa. Above all, the warm people of West Ham celebrate, with Fiorentina ending the season to the applause of its fans and with two lost finals. Both with their heads held high. But he lost.
The goals and the most important phases of the match
90' fast action of Paqueta and Bowen overcomes Terracciano with a shot at the post (1-2)
88' Amrabat tries to surprise Areola, but the English goalkeeper is attentive
81' Great header by Soucek and great response by Terracciano
77' Bonaventura's shot but this time the English goalkeeper parries without problems
72' another action by Gonzalez, then Cabral marks Mandragora who does not take advantage of the opportunity
67' Fiorentina equalizes immediately with Bonaventura on an assist by Gonzalez (1-1)62' Benrahma's penalty goal (0-1)
58' Biraghi's touch of hand, penalty for West Ham
57' Central finish by Kouamé who does not worry Areola
49' Bowen falls into the box but the referee continues despite protests
The second half began 45'+4, Jovic's goal cancelled out for offside, after a header by Kouamé
43' In the last minutes of the first half
West Ham pressed, Fiorentina risked a little
'35' Biraghi hit in the head by an object, thrown by the English fans, which gave him a cut. The purple player has been medicated and can continue the game
26' Milenkovic fails to exploit a Biraghi corner
20' Jovic fails to take advantage of an opportunity inside the English
penalty area 19' the viola look for the enveloping maneuver, the English sting on the counter-attack
13' pressing of the English, Rice from the limit touches the left post of Terracciano
9' conclusion from the limit of Mandragora but goes off on the bottom
6' the two teams are studying, for now no major
action The Fiorentina formations
: Terracciano, Dodò, Milenkovic, Ranieri, Biraghi, Amrabat, Mandragora, Bonaventura, Gonzalez, Jovic, Kouamé. All.: Italian.
West Ham: Areola, Coufal, Zouma, Aguerd, Emerson, Rice, Soucek, Bowen, Paquetá, Benrahma, Antonio. All.: Moyes.
Referee: Del Cerro Grande (Spain).
ANSA Agency
Conference, 2 Fiorentina fans arrested in Prague - Football
Tension in the center of the capital of the Czech Republic for contacts between the two fans, three English injured (ANSA)
